The Cures
by SachiNyoko
Summary: Multicross. :AU: Usagi finds herself in the last place she wanted to be: a mental institution. Through it all she may find the help she doesn't think she needs, and perhaps make a few friends along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning:** _This story does deal with mental illnesses, and possibly some drug abuse. Read at your own risk._

**xXx**

"_The Cures: A Way to a Happier Heart"_

Usagi visibly blanches as she reads the sign, leaning slightly with the car as it turns into the entrance next to this precursor of hells soon to come. The uniformed man at the wheel glances at her in his rearview, but all she can see in his dark brown eyes is _judgment_. The path leads several miles down until the blonde is sure they'd gone to great lengths to keep this place, this loony bin secluded.

A moment later they pull up to the building, and the car rolls to a slow halt. Usagi gazes blankly at the steel cage that separates her from the front half of the car and waits for the officer to open her door. Slowly, she steps from the car, lugging her single duffel bag behind her. The man doesn't bother offering to carry it for her, so she drags it behind her as she follows him to the door.

He stands there bored, looking around disinterestedly while the woman inside, who she can't identify as a nurse or a receptionist, approaches the glass. Pulling out her ring of keys, she unlocks the entrance and allows them to step inside. Usagi's blue eyes jump around, but only one other person is in this room with the woman. A strange man circling the island of waiting seats, throwing glances in her direction every few seconds.

He makes her nervous, and she pulls her duffel bag closer to herself as though it will protect her. In mere moments, the nurse/receptionist has hold of the strap and is pulling away her only defense. With horrified awe, Usagi watches as the woman unzips her bag and starts laying her things out in the floor.

The officer leaves, his escort role having been fulfilled, so it is only Stranger Danger and the nurse/receptionist decorating the lobby with her belongings. She stacks the clothes off to the side, and is getting to the brunt of her search, apparently.

"Um...what are you doing?" Usagi finally asks. The nurse/receptionist looks up with a crinkled brow, her name tag finally visible, which reads 'Suki.' Suki shakes her head and places Usagi's razor into the plastic bin at her side, which the blonde notices has her name written on it in black magic marker. Her hairdryer quickly follows.

"This is standard procedure. You're bags have to be checked and cleared. We have to remove any potentially dangerous objects and put them all in the sharps bin. If at any time you need to use something in it, you just have to ask one of the nurses." Suki explains, in a tone that's nothing short of condescending. Usagi tilts her head, looking at her silver hairdryer in confusion.

"I see. Good thing you took that hairdryer out because I was seriously thinking of blow-drying myself to death tonight." Suki makes a face that might be suitable for someone who just ate a whole lemon, and Usagi turns away to hide her snort of laughter with a short cough. Here she realizes Stranger Danger has gone from glancing at her to all out staring, so she quickly edges closer to the nurse.

He continues to circle the island of waiting seats like a boy playing musical chairs on his own, and with no music. Usagi turns in time to see her CD player making its way to the sharps bin. With some indignation, she says, "Why are you taking my CD player? It's not sharp or dangerous in any way."

"Well, we have to run it through security to make sure it's okay." Suki replies, irritated but not nearly as much as the blonde, pigtailed girl standing in front of her. For a moment, she considers attacking the nurse right there so maybe nurses and aides would come rushing in, injecting her with tranquilizer like they do in all the movies. She settles for throwing her arms up in frustration, and rolling her blue eyes toward the ceiling dramatically.

Stranger Danger starts walking towards her, and panicked she lets out a yell and jumps on the other side of Suki, converting her into a human shield. How did she get stuck here? Where did it all go wrong?

**xXx**

The Cures', or the 'loony bin' according to Usagi, resident doctor leads her into a private room. Apparently she needs a physical examination, which she hasn't had since high school five years prior. Or was it six? She jumps up onto the counter, swinging her legs out in front of her, while the doctor fetches a tongue press.

"Let me guess, you want me to say 'ah'," Usagi giggles, opening her mouth obediently. She stares at the wall as the doctor looks down her throat. Through the rest of the routine, she doesn't move her gaze. When it's over, Usagi leaves the office feeling somewhat violated and a little more cynical of the weeks to come.

The new nurse, she left Suki with Stranger Danger in the lobby, leads her down the hallway. Usagi doesn't raise her eyes the whole time; instead, she focuses on the nurses shoes and follows them until they stop in front of a room at the very end. She turns toward Usagi before saying, "This is your room while you're staying at Cures. You'll have a roommate, but she's in her therapy session right now so she won't be along until later. Yours will start tomorrow by the way; the nurse will come get you when it's time."

The nurse pauses, as if waiting for Usagi to ask a question. She doesn't, and the nurse bustles off. Usagi trudges into the room, feeling like a prisoner on death row, whose execution starts tomorrow. Death by slow torture. Still, she locates the half of the room that isn't occupied and slowly unpacks her duffel bag, minus hairdryer and CD player, she thinks gloomily.

Once her clothes are put away, and her other random belongings, she removes the last item from her bag, one she had to fight to keep. Blue eyes clouding with tears, she sits the picture frame, glass removed, on the small table next to her bed. The woman smiles up at her from the photograph, her dark brown eyes twinkling with laughter. Dark, wavy blue locks fall around her face and down over her shoulders. The woman with the elegant beauty and kind heart she never knew. The woman she _killed_.

Climbing into the bed, Usagi doesn't let her tears fall. Instead she closes her eyes and thinks back, back to when this whole fiasco started.

**Flashback**

The four-year-old Usagi lifts her head as the front door opens, like a wary rabbit listening for a predator. The jingling sound of keys fills the room, and she jumps clumsily to her feet, rushing to greet the newcomer, "Daddy!"

"Not now, sweetheart," the tall, brunette man scolds, placing his keys on the counter and his briefcase, before walking towards his office with a cell phone pressed to his ear. "No, Akira, we won't settle. There are plenty other companies who would triple that offer. Tell them to up their bid or--"

Usagi watches tearfully as the door to her father's office slams shut, and slowly goes back to play with her dolls in the living room.

**End Flashback**

That same man, twenty years older, stares at her from across the visitor's room table. Usagi is already committed to hating the sea foam green color of all the walls, supposedly a relaxing color, and hasn't spoken to any of the other patients. With a nonchalant expression she doesn't feel, she glances at her father every ten seconds or so, but he doesn't speak. After several minutes of silence, he breaks.

"I don't understand, Usagi. I don't understand why you'd do this to me." Usagi inwardly flinches, wishing he would've run her through with a spear rather than say those words. Her blue eyes find the sea foam green tabletop. He victimizes himself, and she doesn't raise them again.

"So that's it. It's always about you, isn't it Dad?" With those words she rises from the table, exits, leaving a stunned Kenji Tsukino in her wake. She walks by the day room, as the nurses call it, not expectant of the two arms that shoot out to drag her inside. Suddenly and dreadfully, she is face to face with the nutcases she'd been trying to avoid.

"Well, the new girl finally decides to show her face." Usagi looks up, horrified, at her assailant, discovering an almost mirror image of herself. Only slightly more crazy and grinning like mad, which probably isn't far from true, Usagi remembers. "I'm Minako, and I have bulimia. What about you?"

Usagi takes in the fact that the girl, Minako, does look sickly underweight. She tries to pry Minako's arm from her shoulders, but the girl has an amazingly strong grip. Finally, she surrenders, and says, "My name is Usagi."

"No rank yet? Well, I guess that's okay for now. Let me introduce you to some of the others." Before she knows what is happening, Usagi finds herself in one of the bolted, plastic chairs that lines the walls facing a group of, well, misfits. Minako sits beside her and loops their arms together, keeping her pinned to the seat quite effectively. "Guys! Everyone! This is Usagi, the new girl."

Minako winks one sparkling blue eye at her and points to the first person in the row of chairs on the opposite side of the room. His dark brown hair falls into his eyes as he glares at the television, apparently dissatisfied with the show playing. "That's Hiiro. He's Schizoid," she pulls out some book or pamphlet with a Cures logo on the front, and flips through it until she locates the page dedicated to Schizoid Personality Disorder.

"See, it says, 'emotional coldness, detachment or flattened affectivity, invariable preference for solitary activities, few, if any, activities provide pleasure.' All these things describe Hiiro perfectly," Minako grins at her, and Usagi can't decide whether to take her fellow blonde seriously or not. She points to the person sitting one chair over from Hiiro, a man with black hair tied in a tight ponytail.

"That's Wufei. He's got anger issues, and he's very sexist," she goes on, laughing as Wufei glares at her.

"Shut up, woman!"

"See, I told you," she winks again and moves on down the line to another ponytail wearing boy. His steely blue gray eyes are staring at the television screen, or perhaps some place beyond it. As she explains his story, Minako lowers her voice, "That's Takuto Kira. You might recognize him as the lead singer to Route L. He found out he had throat cancer, and when they operated to remove the tumor, he lost his voice. Shortly after, he attempted suicide by wrecking his motorcycle. He survived, and after he recovered they sent him here."

Usagi finally pulls her arm free, standing abruptly, "Look, I don't care about any of this. I just want to get out of here. I don't want friends, and I don't want to know these people. Just leave me alone!" With that, she storms from the day room, leaving a silent Minako behind.

**xXx**

Yeah, I know, new story. My first published multi-cross, I'm still working on my other one. Anyway, so far the cross is Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, and Full Moon wo Sagashite. I'm not sure what other characters I will add, but if you have a request, I'd certainly consider. Just know, I don't do Yu-Gi-Oh, I haven't watched enough of Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist to include them, and even though this is AU I don't think Inuyasha would mix well. I'll probably throw in some Fruits Basket, and there will definitely be more senshi.

Other than that, feel free! Review as well, please.

♥SachiNyoko♥


	2. Chapter 2

When Usagi throws the door open to her room she doesn't expect her roommate, who'd been absent up until then, to be sitting cross-legged on her bed flipping through a magazine. The blonde freezes, trapped under the intense violet-eyed gaze of the girl, until she turns back to her magazine.

"You must be Tsukino Usagi. The nurse left your CD player on your bed." Her delicate, porcelain hued hand flips to the next page, which she scans briefly before adding, "I'm Rei Hino. I won't bother you if you don't bother me."

_Perfect_, Usagi thinks, scooping up her CD player and flopping down on her bed. The sharp crinkle reminds her of the plastic sheet below her regular one, and she briefly wonders if they actually have a problem with patients and bed wetting. Allowing herself to relax as much as possible, under the circumstances, she closes her eyes and lets the music from her headphones drift through her head until she dozes off.

Unpleasantly, she wakes to silence and a flashlight beam directly in her face. A moment later the light leaves and the door to the room closes, leaving her vision swimming with dots for several minutes afterwards. Startling her further, she hears a voice to her right say, "Checks, to make sure you don't sneak out. Since you're new and all. Over time, they check less and less."

Usagi turns her head towards Rei's bed, removing her headphones which have her ears aching, since they've been in so long. Her vision is still dotty, but she can see Rei's violet eyes almost glowing in the dimly moonlit room. Before she can think she's asking, "How long have you been here?"

Rei looks momentarily furious, but she pauses. As if realizing she brought the question on herself, she replies calmly, "Four months, in and out. Borderline personality, they call it. Sometimes I just snap without warning."

For an instant, Usagi wishes she had Minako's guide to the types of crazy, but instead she chances inquiry, "What does Borderline mean, exactly?" She waits, expecting the raven haired girl to get upset again, but she only ponders a moment.

"Well, according to the Cures' handbook, 'emotional instability, lack of impulse control, outbursts of violence or threatening behavior are common,' things like that. Of course, they also throw in nice perks like a flair for getting involved in intense, unstable relationships and repeated emotional crises." Rei smirks in a sardonic way, and Usagi smiles uncertainly back. "I guess you don't have a label yet, being a newbie."

"No, but I'm sure the therapist will be happy to provide me with one tomorrow. Then I can be a part of Minako's name and rank game." Usagi grins over at Rei, who, to her own surprise, chuckles.

"Good night, Usagi."

"Good night, Rei."

**xXx**

Usagi stares across the visitor's room table yet again, into her father's eyes. It isn't dear old dad who stares back, however, but her younger brother Shingo. He is her half brother to be exact, because Shingo and Usagi Tsukino were born from different mothers. When he finally speaks, his voice rings out deeper than Usagi remembers it being.

"I don't understand you, Odango. You know you could've come home. You could've called me anytime." He sounds so sincere and so sorrowful, she almost feels badly for him. For a second or two, she feels terrible that Shingo has to have such an awful sister like her and a dreadful father like they both have. Then, as always, Usagi remembers that Shingo has something she never did. Shingo has his mother.

"Don't make it sound so easy, Shingo. It's not like you would have had time to listen to poor older sister's problems. You were probably grocery shopping for your mother, anyway," the bitter tone reverberates through Usagi's words as she speaks, and Shingo's fists clench in his lap, under the sea foam tabletop. He can't contain all his anger when he meets eyes with his sister again.

"You know, Odango, I try the best that I can but sometimes I think...you just don't want to be helped. All those times your things disappeared, that was me you know. But no matter how many times I flushed the pills down the toilet there would always be more there later. I can't do it anymore, you have to help yourself." Shingo stands, and turns to leave her in the same way she left her father the day before.

Her eyes fill with tears, because more than anyone Shingo had always been there for her. No matter how many times she came stumbling through the door in the late hours of the night, when her father wasn't even home, the dirty blonde boy would come padding out of his bedroom sleepily. He'd take her coat off, walk her to her bed and settle her in to sleep. There would always be aspirin and a glass of water on her bedside table the next morning.

"I wish you would've been born a little earlier, Shingo," he pauses at the door, turning to consider her once more. She had bowed her head, but she lifts it again to look him in the eyes, and his breath catches. He'd never seen his older sister cry. "Maybe you would've been there in time to save me."

Shingo feels his throat tighten painfully, and he exits the room quickly. His mother is waiting in the lobby. Usagi swipes angrily at her eyes and stands, just before a nurse walks in and beckons her to follow. "It's time for your therapy session, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that." Usagi snaps, the image of her four year old self filling her mind again, her father's office door slamming down the hall. Apparently working in a mental institution is a little desensitizing, for the nurse is unfazed and continues to lead her to the therapist's office. When she walks in, and sees the therapist, her first inclination is to turn on her heel and walk out.

The resident loony bin therapist is a male, no older than thirty-five. He has dark hair that falls in one of his eyes and not the other, and a pair of eyes so piercing that Usagi can't look at them long enough to determine a color. The brief glances suggest a grayish shade. Just being in the room, in the presence of the person in front of her, reminds her of being a little kid again with her father looking solemnly down at her.

Her blue eyes flicker over his name plate; it reads Hatori Sohma. The nurse that brought her to the office closes the door and leaves, abandoning Usagi all together. Hatori leans back in his chair, bringing his fingertips together, and the whole time his eyes stay glued to the short blonde girl standing at the door. "Come. Sit down."

Obediently, Usagi sits in the chair opposite Hatori but still doesn't look at him. He must know he has this effect, for he finally averts his gaze to the manila folder sitting before him and flips through the papers with indifference. A bit of apprehension lifts from Usagi and she glances around the office, bored. Everything is tidy and professional, no personal belongings except for one picture frame sitting innocently on the desk.

"You have a pretty wife," the words don't come out timid like she thought they would. Though Hatori has an intimidating presence, he isn't her father. She isn't afraid. Hatori follows her gaze to the photograph and turns it to face the other direction.

"She isn't my wife. We no longer speak with each other."

"That's unfortunate. Is there a reason for that?" For all she's worth Usagi appears genuinely curious, perhaps even concerned at the somewhat melancholy shade his eyes take on when he glances at the woman. It touches the part of her that nurses the picture on her bedside table, the part that is holding on to a memory too close to her heart to let go. Hatori isn't baited by the question and sends her a piercing gaze across the desk between them.

"We're here to talk about you, not me." Usagi leans back into her chair, her curiosity piqued at the dodged question, and shrugs offhandedly. There's another moment's silence where Hatori finishes skimming the folder and she watches him.

"I wonder, do therapists ever seek therapy or do they live under the illusion that they are above such help?" The question isn't exactly rhetorical but Hatori apparently takes it that way, because he doesn't even pause to ponder a response. He finally closes the folder and turns full attention to the blonde in the chair across from him. Usagi fidgets.

"This is your first time in a mental institution. You've been accused of drug use on multiple accounts but never charged, expelled from two different schools, and were once on antidepressants," he states blandly.

"Is this some sort of therapy strategy they teach you in college? It's really doing nothing to make me feel better," Usagi hides her emotions behind her scowl, which she aims at the wall instead of the source of her anger. Hatori doesn't respond to this either, and lets the subsequent silence linger for a full minute. Then, he crosses his arms in front of him and leans his weight into the desk, sending another intense look at her.

"How'd you get into the drugs, Usagi?" The responding flinch is very noticeable, as though the words physically struck her, but Usagi knows why it hurts. She never chose to do drugs in the first place, but who could believe that? What credibility did she hold in any person's view? Her eyes slowly close and her mind drifts back, to the very first time she used.

**Flashback**

Usagi enters the party arm in arm with her best friend, Naru, both of them still flushed from the chilly night air outside. The music is incredibly loud, but it fazes neither of them as they mingle with the mass of people on the dance floor. Soon the party thrower, a popular girl from their school named Hana, finds them and pulls them to the side.

"I thought you guys weren't coming. Would you like something to drink? Guaranteed to loosen you up," Hana offers a wink, and Usagi turns to her friend for confirmation only to find she's already wandered off into the crowd. Hesitating only a moment, Usagi nods and waits by the wall while Hana goes to the kitchen. The blue eyed girl observes the huge house, nearly a mansion by any means, and thinks how lucky Hana is to have rich parents who let her have parties like this in the house.

"Coke is alright, right?" Usagi nods to the brunette girl at her side and takes the cup of still fizzing soda from her hand. Slowly, with Hana still watching her, she takes a sip, and then a gulp, and then downs the rest of the drink. When she lowers it, her face contorts. For a soda, it has a strangely bitter taste. Hana is still looking at her, a Cheshire grin stretched over her lips, waiting.

Suddenly, it happens, violently and unexpected like a train wreck. The whole room lurches, and shifts colorfully like Usagi's looking at it through a kaleidoscope. Hana is tugging her arm and they're suddenly in the middle of the dance floor, spinning and laughing. Nothing has ever been so funny, or so beautiful.

"Usagi, look out!" Bright white light fills her vision momentarily. An arm jerks her backwards, and she lands hard on concrete. Looking around, she realizes she is on the sidewalk, outside. Her best friend, Naru, is fallen beside her and panting heavily. In front of her, a red car has stopped and a stunned, horrified woman is just stepping from the driver's seat. How did she get outside?

Looking down, her white dress is now decorated with red splotches, and her whole body starts to shake. Usagi is covered in blood, Hana's blood that is now pooling rapidly under her mangled body. The brunette girl had been thrown several feet forward by the impact and it was clear that she could no longer be alive. That's when the shadows start. They swallow Hana into the street and start to move toward her.

Usagi screams as her body goes into convulsions, and a horrified Naru can do nothing but watch. When the police officers deliver Usagi to her home later that night, dazed and wrapped in a blanket, they explain to Kenji Tsukino that both girls were assumed to be high on LSD. They found stashes of it all over the kitchen and Usagi was having a hallucinogenic episode when paramedics arrived at the house.

**End Flashback**

Usagi considers telling Hatori this story, or about the kids at school that accused her of killing Hana, that caused the fights that led to her expulsion. She thinks about telling him of Hana's friends that held her down and fed her speed pills until she had to be rushed to the emergency room to get her stomach pumped, and after that there was no stopping her addiction. Usagi tells all these stories to people, but no one ever believes her.

An hour passes by in complete silence, with Hatori staring her down the whole time, simply waiting for an answer. When the hour is gone, he opens a drawer in his desk and puts her folder away. "You haven't answered my question yet. I'll ask the question again at the beginning of tomorrow's session, in case you forget it. This will repeat until you provide me with an answer. Have a good day, Usagi."

**xXx**

Usagi ventures out to the patio, into the fenced in 'outside area' to catch a breath of fresh air. In this square patch of land there's a volleyball net, and three picnic tables in a row lining the building's outside wall. The grass is a dreary, dead brown color and is probably, by the looks of it, never watered. Minako is the only other person outside at the moment, and Usagi takes an edgy seat beside her.

"Look, Minako, I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm just a little freaked out to be in this place." Minako sends her a sideways glance, before smiling. Though the expression never reaches her eyes, there is a hint of understanding there.

"It's okay. I didn't know you were a first timer. I was scared too the first time I was sent to one of these places, but the people here are more normal than you think." Minako chuckles at the idea of normal people in a mental institution, and Usagi joins in the humor halfheartedly. They share a comfortable silence, in which Minako draws out a pack of cigarettes and offers one to Usagi, who declines.

"I'm not fond of the taste, but it helps keep the weight off." The other blonde explains, drawing out a lighter and lighting her cigarette. Usagi is surprised to see the lighter, since her own hairdryer is forbidden, but she doesn't question it. Instead she takes in the structure of Minako's face and, timidly, decides to ask the question she'd been pondering since yesterday.

"You're so pretty, Minako, how did you get into, you know, bulimia?" Her face flushes lightly, but Minako doesn't do anything to make her feel uncomfortable. She flicks the ashes from the tip of her cigarette before answering.

"Modeling. When I first got into the business, everything was fine, but the more popular I got, the more I was pressured to lose weight. Five pounds here or there, you know, even though I was never the least bit chubby. It got to the point were the stress was too much, and the dieting and exercise just wasn't working fast enough. Once you start, it becomes something like an addiction, I guess." Usagi nods like she understands, though she isn't sure she does, and Minako turns to look at her again. "So, why _are_ you here?"

"I don't know. Well, I do, but I don't. Overdose I suppose would be the official reason I was Baker Acted (1) and forced to come here, but my life has been a mess ever since I was born." Usagi pauses, and considers telling Minako the stories. For some reason she knows the girl beside her will believe her, but instead she stays quiet. Once Minako finishes her cigarette, she puts it out and the two of them walk back inside.

**xXx**

**(1) Baker Acted: **A person can be taken to a receiving facility for an involuntary examination if there is reason to believe that he or she is mentally ill and because of his or her mental illness has refused an exam or is unable to determine whether an exam is necessary. Persons can be "Baker Acted" if they are a serious danger to self or others, or if they are likely to suffer from neglect or harm if current behavior continues. I think Baker Act is the term used in Florida, where I live, but I applied it here since I don't really know what else to call it.

Well, as per usual the story is AU and Usagi is terribly out of character. x-x; I apologize for the sloppiness of last chapter. Half way through writing it I got the sudden urge to narrate in the present tense and ended up making a huge mess of things. This is my first time writing a story in this format so I apologize for the mistakes I'm bound to make. I'll have to reread more carefully now.

Egad, I actually have _time_! I'm going to go write some review replies, and write a decent summary, so maybe more people will consider reading this. Also, just to make things clear, Usagi is in a mental institution as opposed to a rehab center. There's quite a difference, especially when it comes to freedoms. Once a person is placed in a mental institution, especially as a result of 'Baker Acting,' their rights are completely taken away. They aren't allowed off of the grounds either until they're released.

Also, it's a lot different from an insane asylum where the people, I believe, are confined to a room most of if not all of the time. There are solitary confinement rooms in mental institutions, but they're only used when patients are acting in a way that might harm themselves or others. And that's all for now...

♥SachiNyoko♥


	3. Chapter 3

It is dinner time at the loony bin, and Usagi trails Minako from the day room to the cafeteria. She's been exceedingly late to or otherwise skipped every meal up to this point, so it's the blonde's first time being present with all of the patients, or, at least most of them. She doesn't see Rei anywhere.

"That, over there, is Farfarello. If there's anyone you should steer clear of, it's him." Minako says while they stand in line, pointing across the room to a young man with white hair. One eye is covered by a patch, but the other raises to look at them as though he heard everything said about him. His gaze gives Usagi chills all the way down her spine. "He's schizophrenic."

"As in he has multiple personalities," Usagi questions, turning back to Minako with interest. The other blonde shakes her head no, and pulls out her booklet of disorders, flipping through it until she finds the desired page.

"You're thinking of MPD, Multiple Personality Disorder. Schizophrenia is more largely associated with hallucinations and delusions. See, symptoms here list, 'severe and persistent hallucinations, distorted thinking and perceptions, catatonic behavior, psychotic episodes.' Basically, it's the typical definition of crazy. Farfarello is demented as they come, and he's probably been here longer than anyone. I heard the nurses saying that they might move him to an insane asylum permanently." Minako speaks in low tones, even though there's no real way of Farfarello hearing her.

"Who's she?" Usagi asks, pointing to a girl sitting alone at on of the rectangular tables. She pokes at her food disinterestedly, her blue eyes radiating nothing but sadness, or perhaps loneliness. Minako follows her finger until she spots the girl in question, and her face lights up.

"That's the girl we're sitting with! She's a really sweet girl, but she has Avoidant Personality Disorder," Minako flips to the page and reads aloud, "persistent feelings of apprehension and tension, belief that one is socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others, excessive preoccupation with being criticized or rejected in social situations. Her name is Ami, by the way."

"It sounds like she should hook up with Hiiro. He never talks, so she wouldn't have to worry about being socially inept." It's the first joke Usagi has cracked in a while, and it earns a bit of laughter from Minako as they approach the front of the line to finally get their trays. As the two take their seats beside the blue haired girl, Usagi pokes at the mystery meat on her tray and listens to Minako chatter on to Ami, who doesn't seem to be listening.

Her vision suddenly blurs, and her stomach jolts sickeningly. The burn that rises in her throat is painfully familiar, and she jumps from the table to sprint out of the room, ignoring the enraged shouts from the nurses, "You can't leave without eating!"

After that, everything flutters by in some blurred, broken reality; the bathroom, the vomit that mostly makes it into the toilet bowl, and then the shadows. Hands shaking she reaches for the counter, trying to pull herself to her feet. She tries to get away. Fingers grasp at her from all sides, and she screams. Then it all goes blank.

**xXx**

Usagi rouses in a headache filled, painful way sometime later, though she has no idea how much time has passed. The brightness of the room makes her nauseous; she tries to sit up and stop her head from spinning, but quickly realizes she can't move. She's in restraints.

"You suffered a hallucinogenic episode. Rei found you in the bathroom clawing at your arm and screaming." The blonde glances over at Hatori, looking disinterested as ever and writing something on a notepad. _Typical shrink_, she thinks, turning her eyes down to her forearm to see it, in fact, wrapped in blood stained bandages. "It's common for some people going through drug withdrawal to have these incidents."

"Can I ask you something?" Without pausing for an answer, Usagi asks, "Why is this room so white?" Despite herself, she finds she misses the unpleasant sea foam green color already. Hatori's white coat makes him blend in with the wall behind him, and his pale skin look even more so as he raises his head to look at her.

"That's not important. If I remove your restraints will you remain calm?" The question hangs in the air for a moment; Usagi has a problem registering what's being asked of her, but she finally nods. Hatori moves forward, slowly unbuckling the restraints keeping the blonde held firmly to the bed. She chances rising, as slowly as she can manage, because startling someone might mean tranquilizers and another terrible headache. "Do you feel alright?"

Hatori retakes his seat in the chair set a safe distance away from the bed, and waits patiently for her answer. Usagi sends him a look of pure annoyance, before responding, "Of course not."

"Your father came to see you, didn't he?" Dark blue eyes flicker over Hatori's steel colored ones, and she twists the fabric of her shirt in her hands, completely taken by the question. A slow nod is her only response as her eyelids drop, and the stern face of Kenji Tsukino surfaces in her mind. "How do you feel about your father?"

"Is that the strategy to being a therapist? Just rapid fire questions hoping your patient is caught off guard and suckered into answering?" Usagi realizes in this moment that her retorts are only a defense mechanism. She is only protecting her insides, the broken pieces that no one has laid eyes on since she was a child. Something about the revelation gives her an empty, sick feeling in her stomach, or perhaps her body is still reeling from withdrawals.

"Avoid my questions all you want. You're only taking backward steps, and until you see fit to cooperate, you'll stay here. Only I can label you fit for society." Hatori, though speaking in the sense of someone frustrated, says all of this with an indifference that borders on callous as he closes her manila folder and rises. "You'll spend the night in solitary. Tomorrow you can return to your room and in the afternoon you'll have your first group therapy."

His white coat swishes dramatically as he turns, like John Wayne spinning on his heels ready for a quick draw shoot out, and he leaves her alone in the solid white room with absolutely nothing to do. Usagi isn't completely sure what group therapy entails but if it means her and the rest of the loony bin sitting in a circle chanting the Serenity prayer then she wants no part of it. Her head lolls backwards onto the pillow, and exhaustion overtakes her.

**Flashback/Dream**

"Come on, this party is going to be so much fun!" Usagi is being pulled into the backseat of an old, blue Honda by a girl she has only known for ten minutes. Her name is Aya or Ana or Arista, something the blonde can't quite remember, but she's part of the crowd Usagi had been avoiding ever since she transferred to this school. She would have protested by now except she knows her hands have been shaking all day and shadows have been looming everywhere. This party was bound to have drugs somewhere.

"You're pretty cute. What did you say your name was?" Usagi sits in the middle of the backseat, with the nameless girl on her right and some stranger boy on her left. She's sure she sees him around the halls of their school at times, but his name eludes her. The pathetic attempt to hit on her doesn't escape her radar, and with her withdrawing short temper she has no patience to deal with it.

"Keep your hands to yourself if you know what's good for you." She says bluntly, giving the boy a look. He holds up his hands in mock surrender, grinning cheekily at her as he does so, and she can't help but notice he is kind of cute.

"Whoa now, babe. It was just a question." His violet eyes twinkle with blatant mirth, and despite her current mentality, Usagi begins to like him. He didn't seem like the typical popular guy oaf that hangs around in this sort of crowd. The thing that intrigues her most, however, is the exceedingly long braid the boy is wearing, hanging down his back carelessly. "My name is Duo. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie. _Now_ can I have yours?"

"That's a weird introduction. My name is Usagi," she answers, her face breaking into a smile for the first time all day. The car jolts to a sudden stop, and Usagi is being dragged out before the braided boy named Duo can say anything else. As soon as they enter the party, the blonde girl makes a point to lose her escort, which she suddenly remembers as Aiko. Shrugging it off, she stumbles up the stairs with her mind foggy.

The first few rooms she checks upstairs hold nothing but vulgar make out sessions, and she doesn't even bother saying sorry before she closes the door again. Finally, at the end of the hall, she meets the sight of an unfamiliar group of teenagers sitting around a table, but the assembled substances on the surface are all too familiar. "What the fuck are you doing in here?"

Her blue eyes are out of focus as they look up at the tall boy in the doorway, suddenly blocking her view of the table. Sneering, she tries to walk past him, moving towards the only thing she really wants, but he hits her, hard, across the face and sends her stumbling backward into the hallway. The pain of landing on her butt barely registers; she scrambles to her feet and shoves her foot in the door before it closes.

"Please, let me in," Usagi begs, but the guy shoves her again and closes the door hard. Sobs rise in her throat, but she is undeterred. Standing to her unstable feet, she makes her way back downstairs and edges around the crowds of people. Soon she is in the kitchen, and she begins rummaging through the cabinets in search of something, anything to clear her head. When she opens the refrigerator door, her prayers are answered in the form of an unopened bottle of Goldschlager cinnamon schnapps.

Usagi brings the bottle close to her chest and finds her way into the backyard. The only escape she can find is a large oak tree, so she walks to it slowly and circles around to the other side so she won't be easily seen. To her surprise and dismay, someone is already seated there, and they are quite familiar. "Hey Bunny!"

"Move over." The blonde says, resigning to her fate and completely ignoring the nickname he's given her. Duo complies and she eases down to the ground next to him, leaning her back into the tree trunk and twisting open the bottle of liquor. The first sip is slow, and it warms her throat all the way down, until it settles in her stomach. The taste reminds her of cinnamon flavored candy, and she brings the bottle to her lips, tilting it back and drinking as much as she can before her eyes start to water.

"Whoa, slow down," Duo says from her right, almost sounding concerned as he reaches out to take the bottle from her hands. The unpleasant foggy feeling she was experiencing starts to dissipate, and her head lolls tiredly against Duo's shoulder, since it presents a softer resting place than the tree. His violet eyes study her for a moment, before he takes a slow sip from the bottle as well.

"Duo? What makes someone do things they know are bad for them," she asks sleepily, her eyelids already getting droopy. Liquor has the tendency to put her to sleep, but regardless she takes the bottle back and downs another long drink. Duo grabs the bottle back, tips it, and pours the remaining contents into the grass, watching the flakes of gold (**1**) reflect the sunlight back at him. Usagi watches achingly, part of her wanting to stop him, and part of her glad the alcohol is sinking harmlessly into the earth.

"I don't know, Bunny. I don't know."

**End Flashback/Dream**

"Come on sweetie, I'm here to take you back to your room." Usagi opens her eyes into tiny slits, looking at the nurse that hovers over her with disdain. Closing them again, she notes gallingly that they are filled with tears. She still remembers Duo riding the bus all the way over to the opposite side of town with her, making sure she got home all right. She could recall every detail of his face as he walked her to her door like they'd just been on a charming first date and she wasn't still slightly tipsy. Hell, she could remember the cheesy grin he gave her right before he stole her first kiss.

Above all of these things, however, she remembers the painful stab to her heart when she found out only a week later that he had died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. The situation rings almost ironic in its cruelty.

Usagi follows the nurse back to her room, the bandaged side of her arm pressed against her stomach so no one would see it. When she enters the room, Rei is gone once again, so she grabs some toiletries and heads to the bathroom to shower. She turns the tap to hot only, and steps under the stream of steaming water, letting the scalding pull her mind away from her past.

Once out of the shower, the blonde puts on a pair of sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt to hide the bandage on her arm. Since her hair dryer is still off limits, she dries her long locks with a towel and brushes through them. Her hair is still damp when she's done, but she throws it in a low ponytail and decides to let it dry on its own (**2**). When she looks up at the clock, she realizes it's already lunch time.

The cafeteria is crowded when she arrives, since she's about ten minutes late, but the line is relatively short at this point and she gets her tray quickly. Her unsure blue eyes scan the crowd of people, but Minako starts waving her arm like mad from the other side of the room, drawing her attention. Since the other blonde is her only familiar so far, she sighs and makes her way over to the table.

On her way, she passes by the boy that Minako introduced earlier as Takuto Kira. His alluring blue-gray eyes are staring at his tray with disinterest, and he's barely touched any of the food on it. Something about the boy calls out to her, but he looks up at her with enough hostility to make her speed up her walk to Minako.

"Hello Usagi, feeling better?" Minako asks jovially, pulling her down in the seat beside her. Usagi nods, unwrapping her plastic spork and taking an unsure bite of the spaghetti on her plate. It tastes rather horrid, but she takes another bite anyway. The timid blue haired girl named Ami is sitting across from them, along with a brunette girl she doesn't know, and the two are carrying on a pretty monotonous conversation. "Usagi, this is the other member of our group, Makoto. Makoto, this is Usagi."

"Hey," Usagi says without enthusiasm, as the brunette turns her green eyes her way to size her up.

"You know, the resemblance between you two is uncanny. Are you sure you aren't twins separated at birth?" Makoto says with amusement. As if taking the suggestion seriously, Minako turns to Usagi and asks, "When's your birthday?"

"June 30th," she answers, tilting her head slightly.

"Nope, October 22nd," Minako sighs, and then instantly perks up again, "Hey, maybe we were twin sisters in a past life or something. Maybe we were reborn in separate families! Wouldn't that be so cool?"

"But Minako, how would you ever know if that were true?" Makoto inquires, earning a shrug from the bubbly blonde. The rest of lunch goes on in this manner, Minako keeping them intrigued with her off the wall chatter, until one of the nurses comes in and draws the cafeteria's attention.

"Anyone who has group therapy this afternoon should report to the proper room at this time. Thank you," the nurse says clearly before she leaves again. Minako rises, as does the rest of the group and take their trays up to the appointed area. Usagi follows, dumping the left over contents of her tray in the garbage before stacking it with the rest of them.

"You all have group therapy right now?" Usagi questions and they nod. Once she informs them that she also has it, Minako lets out a cheer and loops their arms together.

"Oh Usagi, you have yet to live if you've not been in a group therapy session, especially our group for that matter." Her fellow blonde says, grinning impishly. Something about her tone and demeanor makes Usagi dread the event even more. As they reach the designated room, she draws in a breath to steady her nerves before following the three girls across the threshold.

**xXx**

(**1**) Goldschlager is a type of liquor that has real gold flakes inside the bottle. I've no idea why, but that's the truth.

(**2**) Usagi's hair isn't as long as it is in the series in this story. It's about to her butt, roughly the same length as Minako's is.

Oh, I felt so bad for bringing Duo in only to kill him off less than a page later. I've done a lot of research concerning this story, which is surprising, because I'm usually lazy in that aspect. I know it's been a couple months since I updated this, but, I just haven't gotten that many reviews for it. Anyway, it would be nice if you'd leave a review before you go, tell me what you like or dislike about the story. Tell me if it's somewhat realistic or just a load of crap. I'd really like some feedback, because I'm just a review mongering author like everyone else. (laughs) So, I'm going to reply to my reviews and hope maybe I get a few more for this chapter.

On a good note, next chapter is group therapy, and it will introduce some other crossovers. Like Naruto, for instance. Yes, despite my somewhat limited knowledge I have been watching episodes lately thanks to my handy dandy Tivo. So I'll be bringing in one of the characters from that show.

Others I was considering include either Ranma or Ryoga from Ranma 1/2., Rei Ayanami from Evangelion (I would say Shinji but he gets on my nerves really bad), either Nagi or Aya from Weiss Kreuz (Farfie-chan already made a cameo D), Cloud or Squall from the Final Fantasy series (keep in mind when I say 'or' it means one or the other, not both), Aya or Chidori from Ayashi no Ceres/Ceres: Celestial Legend, Shinogu from Hot Gimmick (has anyone out there _heard_ of Hot Gimmick?), Setsuna from Angel Sanctuary, plus a few more Fruits Basket characters, and Harry from, duh, Harry Potter (face it, the guy has some serious mental issues).

If you want any of these people to be in it, or if you have other suggestions, review and say so! I know a lot of the times I don't review a chapter it's because I'm not sure what to say, so I'm giving you something. Who on this list do you want to see? Who on this list do you want out? I even thought of Riku from Kingdom Hearts. (laughs) I just got the second game so I'm on a temporary craze.

Oh yeah, and I need a good female character from a series to be my sociopath. What is a sociopath, you might ask? Well, here's a snippet from an article I was reading:

"_Sociopathy is chiefly characterized by something wrong with the person's conscience. They either don't have one, it's full of holes like Swiss cheese, or they are somehow able to completely neutralize or negate any sense of conscience or future time perspective. Sociopaths only care about fulfilling their own needs and desires - selfishness and egocentricity to the extreme. Everything and everybody else is mentally twisted around in their minds as objects to be used in fulfilling their own needs and desires_."

They're also very manipulative. So, if you think of someone _female_ who fits that profile please share, so I can stop wracking my brain trying to think of someone. And please, don't suggest Relena. (sweatdrops) You can't have a good loony bin story without a sociopath. Ciao!

♥SachiNyoko♥


	4. Chapter 4

As Usagi looks around the room, she realizes it dreadfully resembles the mental image she conjured earlier. A circle of chairs, filled with crazy people, who she can envision holding hands, swaying, chanting the Serenity prayer. Minako pulls her into the circle and on a chair beside her, Ami and Makoto filing in to spaces on the opposing side. Curiously, and somewhat apprehensively, Usagi turns to look at the person sitting on the other side of _her_.

To her utter surprise, her breath simply catches. He really fits the description of the most gorgeous guy she could ever imagine, and he must also be used to being stared at, for he glares heatedly at her for the unwanted attention. Usagi flushes with embarrassment at her own rudeness and turns back toward Minako, poking her gently in the arm to catch her attention. Leaning over, she whispers in her ear.

"Who is that?" The other blonde lets her eyes wander over the boy sitting next to Usagi. She takes in his annoyed expression, the redness apparent across the other girl's face, and a grin instantly touches her lips.

"I detect a crush. That's Sasuke, and he is autistic," Minako reaches around for her handbook, and with a sheepish grin she goes on, "I don't have my book with me, I'll tell you about it later."

"That's okay," Usagi responds, waving off the implication of a crush. Turning straight ahead, she tries to study the boy, Sasuke, as discreetly as possible from the corners of her eyes.

She knows what autism is, the doctors she used to visit routinely as a child worried she had the condition. It entails glorious symptoms like a lack of social or emotional reciprocity, impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain conversations with others, adherence to specific routines or rituals, the list went on and on. Basically, it meant socially inept mixed with a little obsessive compulsiveness, and in cases it made the person a slow learner.

Turns out her doctors were only paranoid, or perhaps not, because she is sitting in a loony bin in a group therapy with something of a messed up life. Sighing, she turns her attentions to the rest of the room and away from Sasuke. Her mind reminds her that autism is a condition workable in a home setting, and that he was probably placed here by uncaring parents, or he had none.

Before she can observe other members of the group, the therapist walks in and greets everyone cheerfully. They all mutter a vague hello back, none too enthused. "Well then, we have one new person here today. Tsukino Usagi, would you please stand and say hello to the group?" Usagi winces as her name is called, and everyone turns in her direction, because obviously she is the new patient.

Grudgingly, the blonde stands and bows, but refuses to say anything before she resumes her seat. The therapist, a woman with dark hair and pretty brown eyes, doesn't seem to mind, for she continues on with the session. "You'll all be pleased to know that Hotaru has made progress this week."

The attention in the room shifts to a petite, onyx haired girl with large violet eyes. Her eyes remind Usagi of a subdued version of Rei's eyes, calm and not fiery with intensity. She wears all black and sinks down in her chair from the stares.

As if on cue, Minako mutters, "Autophobia, the fear of oneself. Hotaru is always afraid she'll hurt those around her. She sees herself as a monster." A monster. Usagi blinks, her eyes travel over Hotaru again. Thin, small, fragile, and trying to sink into her plastic chair; more damsel than monster under any circumstances and the blonde cannot understand.

"I...used the knife at dinner. It was plastic, but...I did use it." Hotaru purses her lips as though unwilling to say anything further. The group praises her, while Usagi sits still. The act of using a knife, a plastic knife, is something to be admired? '_This place is just too surreal._'

"Does anyone else have a breakthrough they would like to share?" The brown eyed therapist asks. Silence reigns in the room. Usagi shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Finally, someone speaks.

"How about me, doc? I didn't punch anyone's lights out all week. I didn't even make Ami cry." Usagi turns toward this new speaker. A young woman, nothing short of beautiful, slouches over her plastic chair with something of a smug smile on her face. In fact, the arrogance sparkles in her deep brown eyes as she stares down the therapist. One jean clad leg is stretched out in the two chairs beside her, and the other is laid out before her. Her figure, petite but womanly, is quite visible in the clingy tank top she's wearing.

"Well, Rin, I would say that's good progress. If you don't cause any problems, you may get some of your privileges back." The therapist still talks with her pleasant tone, but the smile on her face suggests she doesn't believe this possible. Perhaps it's the distrust in her eyes. The young woman, 'Rin', turns toward Usagi as though she senses her gaze and smiles. The twisted smile unnerves the blonde, and she quickly averts her eyes.

"Anyone else?" Usagi decides to call this woman Honey, because her voice is smooth and sweet. Honey smiles and says, "Well, why don't you take a little time to talk among yourselves and then we'll start in some activities."

Minako swivels to share a quiet conversation with Ami, so Usagi stares at her hands dully. Her mind feels cloudy and the blurry hands she keeps staring at are shaking. The heart in her chest seizes with desperation, beats rapid-fire until she has to breathe heavier to keep up. She knows this feeling all too well; more withdraw.

"You. What's your name?" Usagi looks up, slightly dizzy, at the towering raven haired woman named Rin. She stands with her hands on her hips, her boot clad foot tapping impatiently on the hard floors.

"Usagi," the blonde girl answers, aware that Minako has hushed beside her and is trying to listen in. She also remembers Honey announcing her name to everyone. Apparently Rin wasn't listening.

"Usagi," Rin repeats, as though testing the name out. "What's wrong with you? You're shaking."

"Nothing," Usagi clips off. Her teeth close around her bottom lip nervously as Rin's face pinches into a frown. The brown eyed woman gives a glare so fierce that Usagi thinks she might melt into her chair. Then, unexpectedly, she breaks into a half smile.

"I like you," Rin announces, as though it's the declaration of the century, before she turns and returns to the three chairs she was previously occupying. Usagi drops her head in her hand, glad she's gone, because her headache keeps getting worse. Honey calls their attention a few moments later, and splits them into pairs for an art project.

Honey chooses the pairs, and Usagi ends up with a boy. He has messy black hair and green eyes behind his glasses, and the expression on his face is absolutely miserable. "Since the art room is being renovated for the next few weeks, I figured we could do some art in here. Today, I want you to sketch, draw, or paint your partner."

Usagi sighs. Artistic talent had never been a strong point for her. She forces a smile when Honey hands her a sketch pad and pencils on request. Then she turns to her silent partner and offers the same reluctant smile. "Hello, I'm Usagi."

"Um, Harry," the boy responds hesitantly. He chooses paints and sets up his canvas slowly, while Usagi flips open the sketch pad. Trying to ignore her shaking hand and pounding head, she starts to sketch. Bit by bit she shapes his shoulders, neck, chin, cheek bones. She pauses over his eyes, the deep emerald green that move routinely from his canvas to her and back.

Usagi realizes her hand is no longer shaking. Still, her focus is to capture that melancholy essence in Harry's eyes, simultaneously wondering what put it there. Unconsciously she spends the remaining twenty minutes of the session trying to perfect his expression. When she finally lays her pencil down, she looks the work over.

Her talent is still not great, but it does resemble a person. The expression on his face, though, matches exactly with the real thing as Harry examines his own canvas.

"Good job, Usagi." Honey comments from behind her, making the blonde jump. "Nice facial detail."

"Thank you," she responds, watching as the brunette walks over to look at Harry's canvas.

"Wonderful work as usual, Harry. You're very talented." Honey smiles, and squeezes Harry's shoulder before she moves on. Intrigued, Usagi wants to see the canvas as well. Picking up her sketch pad, she moves around the table, not at all surprised when Harry jumps in front of the painting, blocking her view.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Usagi jokes, a small, genuine smile spreading across her face at the cheesy saying. Harry falters, considering the offer, before he slowly nods. With his face somewhat red, he moves from in front of his canvas as Usagi sets the pad on the table. When her eyes travel over the canvas, her breath catches for the second time that day.

The painting is her, of course, standing in the ankle deep waters of a riverbank. She's wearing a white dress, which she holds up with both hands so the hem won't touch the water, and her face wears the same sad expression she'd been trying to sketch on Harry. It is the most beautiful thing anyone had ever done of her.

"Harry it's...it's beautiful." Usagi brushes her fingers lightly against the edges of the canvas, her eyes watery with emotion. She can't believe it, or that he painted it in that half hour of time. The blue eyed girl turns back to Harry and impulsively hugs him. "Thank you so much."

"Er, you're welcome. You can," he pauses, uncomfortable though Usagi already pulled away from him. "You can keep it if you want."

"I'd love it," Usagi smiles, her attention back on the painting. Honey tells them that the session is over, and that they can return to their rooms or other activities. The blonde does go back to her room with the canvas in hand. Rei has already arrived, and Usagi offers a hello while she props the canvas on her dresser.

"Pretty painting," the violet eyed girl comments from her bed. Usagi only nods.

**xXx**

Usagi walks slowly down the dim hallway, lit only by a couple of lights, in her plush cat slippers. She'd fallen asleep after group therapy, and slept through dinner until now, two in the morning. Now she stops at the nurse station and asks the woman if it's alright for her to be up right now. The nurse, a friendly looking woman with pulled back brown hair and kind blue-green eyes, looks up and nods. Her nametag reads 'Aerith.'

"There are a few other patients awake in the day room, if you would like to join them. Otherwise you have to be in your room." She explains softly. Something in the brunette woman's voice is so sweet and inviting, it warms Usagi down to the core. "I'll inform the nurse doing checks of where you are."

"Thank you," the blue eyed girl turns and walks toward the day room just a ways away. The lights are all on in this room, she can tell because the walls are glass. A precaution, she reasons, so that they can be supervised constantly. Either way, she slides into the room and stops to look at the three people sitting on the other side, around a round table.

The first is a boy with red locks of hair. He looks over as soon as she walks in, his intense, teal hued eyes raking over her whole form. There's a tattoo on his forehead, kanji she recognizes as 'love.' To his right sits a girl no older than eighteen, with bleached blonde hair and blue gray eyes. Her gaze stays on the table, unmoving.

Finally, there is another person to the right of this girl, who Usagi can't decide the gender on. Honey colored hair pulled into a low ponytail, pretty watery brown eyes, and wearing a kimono. Despite obvious signs of femininity, Usagi can't help but think this person is actually male. Realizing she's been standing at the door for a while, she begins to walk over to the three of them.

"May I join you?" She asks quietly, more nervous now that she's standing just in front of the table. The redhead hasn't looked away from her since she entered the room, but he nods his head to her question.

"Please do," the honey haired _boy_, Usagi quickly decides, says kindly. The blonde drops into the seat between the redhead and this boy, and looks across to the blonde girl who hadn't spoken. She looks like she didn't even notice Usagi join them. "I'm Ritsu."

"Usagi," she responds automatically, smiling at the uneasy boy. When she looks at him, though, he winces and turns away.

"Gaara," the redhead states evenly. This effectively brings her attention to him before she can question Ritsu's reaction. "The girl is Aya."

"Can she speak?" Usagi asks softly, her gaze on the immobile blonde. Gaara nods to this question, as does Ritsu. The latter chooses to explain the situation.

"Aya has post-traumatic stress disorder. It causes her to become catatonic sometimes." Ritsu says. When Usagi turns to him, however, he again bows his head and looks at his hands.

"It doesn't mean she can't speak at all," Gaara says, pulling Usagi's eyes toward him again. Like a defense mechanism, she notes; as though Gaara is trying to keep her from looking at Ritsu for some reason.

"I see. I haven't even gotten a suggestion to what's wrong with me yet." The blonde bites down on her lip uncomfortably after she says this, hoping they don't take it the wrong way. She goes on, trying to save face, "Er, so why aren't you guys in bed? I slept all afternoon."

"I don't sleep. Somniphobia," Gaara is the first answer this time. The confusion on Usagi's face is easy to interpret, so he elaborates. "A phobia is a fear. Somniphobia is the fear of sleep."

"I sleep during the day. Less people see me this way, and I keep Gaara company." The blue eyed girl faces Ritsu again, and winces herself when she realizes her mistake. Softly, he says, "Don't worry, it isn't your fault. I have body dysmorphic disorder. Or at least that's what they tell me. They're really just keeping me locked away because I'm too ugly to look at."

"But Ritsu, you're very handsome! Ah," Usagi falters as her face lights up bright red, reminiscent of Gaara's hair. Ritsu also blushes, but doesn't appear too convinced. Gaara only smirks. "I mean, Ritsu, you certainly aren't ugly." She smiles softly at him.

"You're just saying that," Ritsu responds miserably. Unable to contain herself, Usagi reaches over and places her hand over his, face scrunched in determination.

"I'm not just saying it. We just met and I have no reasons to lie to you. In all honesty, I think you're very handsome," though still blushing, Usagi's expression morphs into a wide grin. Ritsu offers a watery smile back. Even Aya has lifted her head to look between them, a smile on her previously blank face.

"Snack time, everyone!" Aerith enters the room with a bright smile, stealing the attention of everyone present. She approaches the table with a cardboard box, and places it in the center. "I had to hide them again. The daytime nurses keep eating everything for themselves."

"Oh glorious donuts," Usagi cheers with child-like enthusiasm as she snatches up the box of powdered sweets, a truly happy expression on her face. "I haven't had donuts in forever. Thank you!"

"You're welcome." Aerith pulls a chair from the nearest table, and Usagi has to scoot closer to Gaara to give her enough room. She doesn't seem to mind, her main focus is the box of donuts on her hands. Aya is no longer staring at the table. She grabs a bag of chips and begins munching. Gaara, also munching potato chips, appears somewhat amused as Usagi starts shoving donuts in her mouth, coating her fingers and mouth in powdered sugar.

"Do you guys do this every night?" The blonde asks between donuts.

"Yes! Although some nights Gaara falls asleep or I'll have an episode," Aya says cheerfully from across the table. "You're welcome to join us any time, though."

"If we can have donuts all the time, then I'm definitely in," Usagi replies, grinning.

**xXx**

"Good afternoon, Usagi," the blonde nods in greeting as she sits across from Hatori. She still looks a bit sleepy, but the apprehension of being in her therapy session overshadows it. Hatori allows a moderate pause before he continues, "the night nurse informed me that you joined our nocturnal group last night."

"I felt sick after group therapy, so I went to bed. I woke up around two and Aerith, er, the nurse pointed me there." Usagi explains, even though he didn't ask.

"You felt sick?" Hatori inquires, picking a piece of useful information from the story.

"Yes. Withdraw," is her short, to the point answer.

"You're handling it alright? I can't give you anything while you're going through detoxification."

"I know," Usagi says shortly. She remembers taking the detoxification meds when she first arrived at the loony bin. They stabilize the heart and keep the blood pressure down, helps ease through drug withdraw. Hatori flips through her file, and she starts to wonder if he only does that to look busy.

"I've been reading your file. There's not much on your mother," though he speaks with his usual uninterested tone, Usagi feels like he might as well have yelled at her. She flinches and bows her head until her chin touches her chest. Her eyes scrunch closed and her fingers clench the edge of the chair as she trembles. "Usagi, what happened to your mother?"

"I...ed...er." Hatori leans forward in his chair, the file pushed aside as he observes the girl's reaction. The words are too soft to hear, but she continues to mutter them. Shimmering tears fall from the shadows of her bangs, landing innocently on the back of her hand.

"Usagi, what happened to your mother?" Hatori implores again, standing from his chair and moving around the desk. Usagi emits a whimper, her shoulders trembling violently. "Usagi?"

"I KILLED HER!" The blonde screams. Her hand lashes out toward the stoic therapist, and caught off guard it hits him in the face. He curses, but catches the second arm before it can make contact. A nurse runs in, and stares wide eyed at the thrashing blonde before she calls to the nurse station for a sedative.

The orderly runs in with the syringe, and in moments the blonde's limbs stop flailing. "**I killed her**. I killed her. _I killed her_." Usagi's words slur beyond comprehension as she collapses against Hatori. His look remains neutral as he passes the petite girl to the orderly.

"Get her to confinement."

"Jacket?" Hatori shakes his head solemnly, and watches as the orderly hauls the sedated girl from the chair, down the hall to solitary. His stormy eyes turn back down to the open file on his desk, to the picture of the smiling blue haired woman with her hand on her swollen belly.

**xXx**

Usagi slowly wakes, only to find herself in her worst nightmare. An all white, padded room surrounds her, dully illuminated by moonlight that filters into the high, unreachable windows near the ceiling. There is a cot, a slot on the metal door for tray transfers, a small square window with bars at the top of the entrance. The only thing missing is the jacket.

"Usagi." The blonde freezes when the voice filters in from the hall. The tone is familiar, and she hears the person shift their weight on the other side of the door. Slowly, she crawls over and sits beside the entrance, listening to the person move around.

"Gaara," Usagi recognizes. "Where are Ritsu and Aya?"

"They're in bed. It's five in the morning." Gaara responds flatly. Yesterday, they'd retreated back to their rooms a bit before five so that Aerith could finish her rounds and switch shifts at six.

"I lost a whole day. Not the first time," Usagi chuckles dryly, leaning her head back into the door. She can picture Gaara on the other side; his arms folded as he sat, blank expression, and the dark smudges under his eyes from rare sleep. "When I was little and I couldn't sleep, my Grandma sang me a song. Would you like to hear it?"

The soft voice can barely be heard through the thick metal door. Gaara frowns. He could say that no amount of sleeping pills or warm milk or lullabies can put him to sleep. He could tell her that the only thing that could lull him into slumber was sheer mind and body exhaustion, the inability to keep his eyes open any longer. Instead, he says, "Sure."

Usagi begins softly, her eyes drifting closed as she remembers her grandmother's voice from so many years ago.

_Grasping the cool flower petals tightly_

_I felt as if I saw a break in the clouds_

_Going on forever_

_Two dreams_

_Touching fingertips_

_Dancing tears on that spring day_

_I can't find any reason_

_Soon they will come to a stop_

_Can I become strong_

_Someday?_

_I'll search forever for the sight of a white angel_

_I know they will fall_

_Wings that will bring a new me_

_Take the snowflakes on the wind to the illusory Eden_

_If I'm here, perhaps I can become accepting_

_If just a little_

_There's no such thing as God_

_But I want to believe in someone_

_Now still I don't want to grow up_

_A cherry blossom storm secretly_

_Back when I smelled purple lilacs_

_Memories of distant snow_

_Smoothly covering the ground_

Usagi pauses, and smiles. From the other side of the door, she can hear the sound of soft snores. Out of the corner of her eye, she also sees that a box of powdered donuts had been pushed through the tray slot.

**xXx**

**The song is called Oborozuki yo. It's a Japanese lullaby.**

Ah, hello. Don't you just love OOC characters? (cuddles Gaara plushie) :3 Hmm, new characters include Aya Mikage from Ayashi no Ceres, Ritsu and Rin from Fruits Basket, Gaara and Sasuke from Naruto, Harry from Harry Potter, and Aerith from Final Fantasy VII. Oh, and there's another that I won't name yet.

Gaara's tattoo does say love, right? I remember reading that somewhere. If it's wrong I'll feel a bit silly. Well, there are a few more characters yet to be introduced. Next time. By the way, all conditions used in the story are real and I don't take them lightly.

Please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Gaara only sleeps for about three hours. Usagi can only time it by the slow progression of night to dawn in her small, out of reach windows near the ceiling. He is suddenly, rudely woken by the orderly who is there to release Usagi from solitary. The blonde is grateful to the orderly for letting her out of the padded room, but still upset that he had to wake Gaara in the process.

"Doctor Hatori wants to see you right away." He informs before leaving down the hall. She watches him before turning to the redhead at her side. He also starts down the hall, assumedly toward his room. Usagi never sees him around during the day.

"Er, Gaara." She stops him before he enters through one of the doors. He turns toward her, his eyes questioning, and she hesitates before asking, "Could I, um, is it alright if I--"

"Yes." Gaara cuts her off as he opens the door to his room. "You can come by whenever you want."

"Thanks." Usagi manages before the door shuts. She stands in a daze for at least a full minute before she remembers the orderly's words and heads down the hall for Hatori's office. The first time since she came here, he is standing in the doorway waiting for her with an oddly complex expression. Complex, at least, in the sense Usagi cannot read it at all, so she follows him silently in the office and takes her seat.

Hatori shuts the door and sinks into his office chair, a grave expression on his face. The whole scenario makes Usagi uncomfortable. Her manila folder is in its usual place on the desk, but on top of if is another piece of paper she cannot identify. The steely eyed man continues to look as though he's at a funeral, and doesn't speak at all for the first ten minutes of the session. Usagi is too timid to say anything.

"After your last session," The blonde jumps in her seat quite noticeably when Hatori finally talks, but typical of him he ignores her, "I contacted your father for a copy of your mother's death certificate."

Shock seizes every limb of Usagi's body. She forgets to breathe for a length of seconds. Her blue eyes, wide and trembling, focus solely on the foreign sheet of paper that rests innocently on her file. After a moment, she is forced to gasp for a breath of air. Her eyes fill with tears as she looks up at Hatori, and in that moment the stoic doctor sees something beyond the twenty-four year old, suicidal drug addict dropped into his lap several days before. He sees a broken, lost little girl who has no one to love.

"Why did you do that, I told you I killed her. Why did you do that?" Even her tone of voice changes when she speaks. It's no longer the stubborn, unrelenting snap of a young woman, but quiet and withdrawn like a child. Once again, Hatori rises from his chair and walks around his desk. With his palm against the wood, he leans into it and tries to look Usagi in the face. She refuses, facing only the floor.

"Usagi, you didn't kill your mother." He says, gauging for a reaction.

"I did. I did kill her." Her voice is broken with tears. "It was my fault she died, I killed her."

Hatori reaches for the sheet of paper, and places it on the very edge of the desk, where Usagi only has to move her eyes to see it. He then says evenly, "Obstetrical hemorrhaging."

"No," Usagi immediately covers her ears with her hands, shaking her head. "I did it. I killed her. Stop lying."

Reaching out, Hatori pulls Usagi's hands down rather easily, even though she resists. "Usagi, your mother had cervical cancer."

"Stop it," she pleads, knowing Hatori has her overpowered and she can't fight back. "Please stop it."

"The doctors found it after she was pregnant with you. She had the option of getting treatment and giving up your life, or continuing the pregnancy. She knew what would happen. She gave her life for yours, Usagi." He finally releases her hands, and they fall uselessly to her lap. Usagi is crying so hard that her whole body is convulsively shaking and she can barely breathe, but Hatori knows there is no stopping from this point.

"During labor, her reproductive tract faced trauma, as she knew it would, and she started to bleed internally. Nothing could be done to save her. She loved you enough to give up her life for you. Don't you think it would hurt her to know that you think you murdered her?" Usagi finally falls from her chair to her knees on the floor and wraps her arms around her stomach.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy. I love you. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry." Hatori frowns as he gently lifts Usagi back into her chair and places the box of tissues in her lap. He half sits on the desk while she gradually calms down, creating a mountain of tissues in the garbage bin.

"Usagi, there's one more thing I need before you can leave." She raises her large blue eyes, looking strangely calm and exhausted. "I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn't kill your mother."

Panic overtakes her whole expression, but only for a moment. She stops, contemplating this, looking amazed in the way that she never considered that possibility before now. With her voice slightly shaky, she replied, "I didn't. I didn't kill her."

"You're free to go," Hatori moves back around his desk, retakes his seat and tucks the copied death certificate back into her manila folder. His demeanor is the same as always, completely indifferent, but as the door softly closes behind the pigtailed blonde, the smallest of smiles becomes visible, and he studies the single picture frame on his desk silently.

At the same moment Usagi stumbles down the hallway, her vision a blur of sea foam green. Muffled sounds reach her ears as she passes the day room, a few straggling patients pass in the halls, and finally reaches the familiar door to her room. Her hand finds the knob, turns it, and closes the door behind herself before she falls into the plastic-sheet-lined loony bin bed meant only for her. She takes one deep breath, two, and shifts her head to the side to look at the bedside table.

With fingertips spread apart, she reaches out to touch the surface of the picture. Tracing over the long blue hair, pretty brown eyes, smiling pink lips, Usagi does the one thing she could never do looking at her mother before. She smiles. Her eyes fall closed, and she whispers 'I love you' to the empty room.

**xXx**

When the blonde rouses, the clock reads one a.m.. She fumbles from the bed and into her cat slippers. Rei's asleep in her bed, so she slips out quietly and heads for the light down the hall, coming from the day room. Waving at Aerith before entering, she takes her seat between Ritsu and Gaara.

"Good morning," Usagi smiles. Ritsu nods, but both Aya and Gaara seem to be out of it. The other blonde stares at the table, the same way she had been when Usagi first met her, and Gaara is conscious, but his eyes keep fluttering every few seconds. "Gaara, you look terrible."

"Thank you." Apparently he's more aware than he looks, for he sends her a look and she promptly shuts her mouth. Before she can turn to speak with Ritsu, the door to the room opens, and the short ebony haired girl Usagi remembers from group therapy walks in. She appears a bit startled to see them, but retreats to a corner of the room and curls into a chair to read. Usagi glances around the table and then stands, walking slowly towards the new arrival.

"Your name is Hotaru, right?" As the blonde goes to sit down beside her, she emits a petrified squeak that makes Usagi flinch.

"Don't sit next to me." Between her tousled locks of hair, Usagi can see her eyes swivel back and forth, sincerely frightened. "I could hurt you."

"Okay," she concedes and settles down two seats over, but keeps her blue eyes locked with Hotaru's watchful amethyst. "Why do you think you would hurt me? I don't think you would. You seem like a very sweet girl to me, not someone who would attack a person for no reason. Besides, there's nothing around you could use for a weapon."

"How do you know?" Hotaru raises her head with a defiant look. "I don't need a weapon. I could use my fingernails to claw your eyeballs right out of your head."

"Eh, they're too short." The blonde responds, pointing to her clipped nails. Hotaru looks at them also, perplexed, considering the idea. To further prove her point, she adds, "It would take you five minutes just to scratch me with those."

"Yes, well, did you know it's possible for me to bite your nose clean off." The small girl protests, sitting straight up now in her plastic chair. Usagi has already slid over another seat without her noticing, too caught up in the argument.

"Yeah, but why would you want to do that? I don't imagine it'd taste very good. You could get a booger in your mouth." The blonde laughs at the expression Hotaru gives, and says, "Besides, if you came at me with your mouth wide open I think I'd back up just a bit."

"You don't get it," Hotaru huffs, half exasperated and trying not to crack a smile. She doesn't even notice Usagi has moved into the chair right beside her, only that Aerith has entered the room with her box of treats.

"Well, maybe I'm too dumb to get it. Let's get a snack." The blue eyed girl stands and beckons for Hotaru to follow, but before they cross the distance to the table, she stops and gives the ebony haired girl a very serious look, before saying, "Unless you're planning to blind me with a Twinkie."

The enclosed room echoes with the sound of Hotaru's laughter, though it's a bit shaky, and otherwise reserved. Usagi grins and digs the donuts from the bottom of the box, and makes everyone scoot so she and Hotaru can both sit around the table as well.

**xXx**

Usagi wakes in time for lunch, but she eats alone since Minako and the others are missing. Afterwards, she returns to her room and showers, then heads for the day room to find Minako. Instead, she finds a distraught Ami with two nurses hovering over her.

"What happened?" The blonde directs her question at Harry, who is sitting silently across from the whole scene. He doesn't look at her at all, just her shoes, and then back at the floor. For a while, Usagi thinks he ignored her, but he finally answers the question.

"Rin came. Said some nasty things to Ami. Makoto usually defends her but she's with Minako." Usagi takes the seat next to the bespectacled boy and gives him an inquiring glance. He already knew what she was going to ask, "Minako got caught throwing up again this morning. Makoto went to her room immediately. Rin knew Ami would be here alone, so she came."

They both go silent, and watch as Takuto Kira rises from his seat across the room. He approaches the scene and moves the nurse efficiently from the seat beside the blue haired girl. Usagi looks on, wide eyed, as the boy pulls a small notepad and pencil from his pocket. He scribbles something on the paper and places it in Ami's lap. The crying girl peers through her hands at the message, and then looks up at the writer, surprised. He smiles as she does, and hugs her when she throws her arms around his neck.

"They make quite a pair," Usagi, so engrossed in the moment, didn't realize that Rin had fallen in at her side. Harry's eyes move to the floor again, "the boy who can't talk and the girl who doesn't want to, what a freak show."

"Why do you pick on Ami?" The blonde asks, watching as Rin turns her dark eyes on her.

"Same reason I pick on Ritsu, I guess. Easy targets. What about you? I hear you have a mother complex." She twirls a long strand of black hair around her finger, talking evenly as though discussing the weather. "Just because your bimbo of a mom went and died you decide to become a loser. How pathetic."

"You're pathetic." Usagi continues to watch Ami and Takuto write back and forth to one another, not making eye contact when Rin turns to look at her. "Insulting people all the time because it makes you feel better about yourself. Lashing out to keep anyone from getting too close. That's really pathetic."

"Oh please, you wish I was that pitiful Blondie." She abruptly stands, her tall, lean frame quite intimidating. "I'm leaving. This is making me gag. Oh wait, that's Minako's job."

"She's horrible," the blonde whispers quietly after the day room door closes.

"You kind of get used to it." Harry says, mostly to himself.

**xXx**

Usagi raps lightly against the door with her knuckles, watching other patients walk by toward lunch. Another spell of drug withdrawal hits her, and she leans a hand into the door frame for support as her knees get weak. The prospect of eating means the risk of vomiting all over the place, and she would rather be on the safe side.

Finally, the door clicks open, and a simple nod of the head allows her inside. Usagi quietly trails Gaara to his bed and sits across from him, her vision slightly blurry. She never considered the presence of Gaara's roommate, but when her eyes flicker toward the other bed, she gulps.

A golden hued eye connects with her blue, the other covered by an eye patch that reminds the blonde of a pirate. Her throat dries up concurrently with the sinister grin that stretches across his face. Usagi's entire leg twitches as he rises from his bed, a desperate plea from her mind to run, but she stays put as he walks toward her.

"Just like a rabbit," his hand touches one of her pigtails, and by pure reflex, her hand shoots up to knock his away. Usagi sees his jaw clench in anger, so she clenches her eyes closed at the same time, expecting anything.

"Leave her alone, Farfarello." Except, perhaps, that. Her blue eyes open wide to look over at Gaara. His voice is the same even tone as always, but his teal hued eyes tell a different story. Farfarello turns his surreally demonic eyes toward him.

"What's wrong, Gaara, don't want to share your toys?" Usagi flinches at the cold glare that passes between the two, before Farfarello turns and exits, presumably to lunch. She exhales with relief, trying to slow her racing heart. In the unanticipated scene, the blonde forgot completely about her dizzy spell.

"Thank you." She says quietly, turning back toward the redhead. Gaara acknowledges her words with a small nod.

**xXx**

Dinner time rolls around, and Usagi wonders to herself how little conversation passes between her and the redhead Gaara while she walks toward the cafeteria. She considers the fact that she feels the most comfortable around him than anyone else she'd met in the loony bin so far, even Minako. Taking a place in the tray line, her blue eyes glance across the room.

At a far table, Minako sits in the next to last slot, her small frame bent strangely inward. The other blonde appears nothing more than a sliver of her usual self, blue eyes gazing dully at the tray of food on the table. In the last seat is the brunette known as Makoto, her hands grasped around Minako's, lips moving constantly.

Above both of them stands a fearsome looking nurse, glaring down at the two girls and not appearing amused. Usagi gathers that Makoto is trying to persuade Minako to eat, the nurse is there to make sure she does even if she has to force feed her, and Minako is pretty oblivious to the both of them.

So, the pigtailed girl collects her tray and heads for the table, taking a seat across from the dazed girl and plopping her food down unceremoniously. This draws Minako's blue eyes from the food to her face, and Usagi forces a smile.

"Hey Minako," she begins, wiggling her eyebrows. Makoto looks on with interest, "my grandma used to sing me this song, you probably know it too. I think it fits in pretty well with this place."

"_Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy  
Boom, boom, ain't it great to be nuts like us_"

Usagi grins as a sparkle of recognition flutters through the other girl's eyes. Makoto grins as well, and joins in with the next couple of lines.

"_Silly and foolish all day long  
Boom, boom ain't it great to be crazy_"

Minako's posture improves slightly in her chair, restoring a bit of the vivacious personality Usagi grew accustomed to the past several days. As her and Makoto continue the song, she starts to sing along in a half-whisper.

"_Way down South where bananas grow  
An ant stepped on an elephant's toe  
The elephant said, with tears in his eyes,  
Why don't you pick on someone your own size?_"

A few people from the next table have caught on to the song and joined in, bringing most of the cafeteria's attention to that particular corner of the room. Minako's lips quirked into a smile, and as they went into the next chorus, at least half of the cafeteria joined in, sending the nurses into a frenzy for order.

"_Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy_  
_Boom, boom, ain't it great to be nuts like us_  
_Silly and foolish all day long_  
_Boom, boom ain't it great to be crazy_"

Usagi laughs as the nurses try to get them all quiet again, in vain, and stands to belt out the rest of the song, bringing Makoto and Minako to their feet as well.

"_A horsie and a flea and three blind mice_  
_Sat on a curbstone shooting dice_  
_The horsie slipped and fell on the flea_  
"_Oops" said the flea, "there's a horsie on me!"_

_Boom, boom, ain't it great to be crazy_  
_Boom, boom, ain't it great to be nuts like us_  
_Silly and foolish all day long_  
_Boom, boom ain't it great to be crazy_"

"**_Quiet!_**" By now, the song is over, but the nurses feel self important as the patients adhere to their pleas for silence. Usagi drops back into her seat, laughing, enjoying the fact that Minako and Makoto are doing the same. The nurse behind them looks more menacing than ever.

"Well," the pigtailed girl begins, directing her words across the table, "What do you say we eat this strange substance they seem to think is food? It can't be that bad."

"Okay," Minako nods, hesitantly picking up her fork and delving into the meal. From the corner of her eye, Usagi sees Rin a few tables down, grinning at her in clear amusement.

**xXx**

Ha ha. I love that song, even if it is a children's song. I'm a bit lazy right now to do a read through, so expect little mistakes, like typing 'her' instead of 'he.' I absolutely loathe that typo.

To answer a couple questions here, I'm not entirely sure on the romance portion yet, Rin is the sociopath, and Harry is manic depressive. Everyone else should be answered accordingly through review replies. If I haven't answered your question at all, feel free to hit me with shoes and ask me again. x3

I also want to say that even though this story doesn't receive as many reviews as some of my others, the reviews I do receive are very insightful and delve into the true content of the story as opposed to the usual 'please update.' So thank you to each and every reviewer.

-SachiNyoko


	6. Chapter 6

"As I'm sure you're aware, your three day evaluation has ended." Hatori sits perfectly postured in his desk chair, folds his arms in front of him, and speaks in the tone to which she has grown accustomed. At this news, Usagi perks up in her own seat.

"So I can sign myself out now?" The thought of freedom and the outside world sends a jitter of excitement from her scalp to her toenails. The dark haired psychiatrist sends her a look, his cold gray eyes slightly affronted.

"Not yet. Since you've been declared incompetent and forced into this evaluation, I've been observing your behaviors and I think it would be better if you stay. Therefore, I filed the petition this morning with the court to have you placed here for an allotted time in which I will continue to diagnose your mental illness. The hearing is this afternoon."

"A petition? You can't keep me here against my will!" The blonde is now furious, her hands clenching the edge of her seat cushion as she glares at Hatori. "I'm fine anyway, this is ridiculous."

"For your information, Miss Tsukino," his indifferent voice shifts to a stern, cold tone as he speaks, making Usagi shrink back in her chair somewhat, "downing a slew of prescription drugs and a bottle of hard liquor does not qualify you as being fine. Since the law has declared you incompetent, I _can_ keep you here against your will."

"Please," Usagi turns her tactic, knowing full well that everything he said was true. The police officer had explained it quite thoroughly in her hospital room before he escorted her to this place. "Please don't make me stay here. I can't take it. Can't you just prescribe some antidepressants and let me go?"

"I'll have the nurse let you know tonight the result of the hearing." Hatori pauses, his eyes studying the partly depressed, partly furious blonde. His voice quiets slightly as he asks, "Do you really want to leave that badly? Do you want to run back to the life of alcohol and drugs that you were living before? I can help you."

"Sure you can," the remark comes as a half sigh. The pigtailed young woman rises from her chair and leaves the office, not bothering to ask whether the session is actually over or not.

**xXx**

Translucent drops fall continuously, the light hum of rain hitting the rooftop reverberates through the air. Usagi sits under the overhang at one of the picnic tables, her golden hair undone from its twin buns. The long mane falls around her face like a curtain, and shields her thin frame almost completely.

She flexes her bare toes, slightly nipped at by the cold air, and tilts her head slightly to the side, exposing one damp cheek untouched by rain. The muggy air is difficult to breathe. Her arms fold over her knees unconsciously and she imagines who she wishes to be holding in the moment of loneliness but can think of no one.

_You have to stay...up to a year_, that's all that registered from the dark haired nurse that gave her the news an hour ago. Either her heart is exploding or shattering into thousands of pieces all at once. _Maybe both_.

The door opens to her right, out stomps a form she only vaguely knows. His dark eyes find her, the lone haunter of the outside patio in this rainstorm, and challenge her with a fierce glare. She can only stare in return.

"Sasuke," the name leaves her lips before she realizes she spoke at all. He falls into the bench and glares out at the pouring rain, clearly infuriated with something other than the weather. Usagi respects the sentiment, and turns her thoroughly miserable gaze back to the rain herself, wiping gently at her tears.

"What's your name?" So many minutes have passed that the blonde forgot he was there at all. She turns now, startled, not able to register the question he asked. At least until he repeats it, this time with annoyance. "You know mine obviously, so what's your name?"

"Usagi," she answers. Blue eyes stay focused outward, she hugs her knees even closer. The rain picks up, thuds harder and harder on the roof, until the blonde can barely hear herself think. The stray drops hit her every once in a while, guided under the overhang by the whipping wind. Usagi forgets about Sasuke being there again. "I want to go home."

Her voice is barely a whimper. Without noticing, she's started to shiver uncontrollably. Her body breaks into a cold sweat. The drugs, she thought, held no more hold over her. But apparently they still do. Her fingers clench into her thighs as she tries to keep herself steady.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Everything." The answer came out without her consent. She bows her head and lets the long hair curtain her, the curls her toes on the edge of the table. "Do you think you belong here?" The question leaves her lips as a stray thought. It's been long enough that Sasuke may be back inside already. "I mean at first, I thought this was the stupidest shit. But you know, maybe I do need to be locked away. Maybe I should stay here forever."

"Don't let them brainwash you." Usagi lifts her head, startled, just to see the door close behind the dark haired boy. Her lips quirk into a frown as the rain slows into a slow drizzle.

Then a whim overtakes her, and she unfolds her legs from her torso. The stretch feels good after her curled position. As soon as the pads of her feet touch the wet grass outside the overhang, the rain picks up again. It soaks through her cotton shorts and tank top as she kneels and then, all at once, falls backwards. Her limbs spread outward from each other.

She lays there, letting the rain wash over her, letting the water form the tears she cannot muster herself. As she does, the world drifts away, the gentle hum of rain silences, she can feel no more.

**xXx**

"You're an idiot, you know." It's the harsh voice of her roommate Rei that greets her when she slides her eyelids apart. The pale, raven haired beauty fills her vision as she frowns down on her. Then she rolls her violet eyes up toward the ceiling and steps away, flopping down on her own bed with finality. "I mean, what half wit with a death wish falls asleep in a rainstorm."

Usagi coughs weakly in response, but finds the simple action to be quite painful against her very sore throat. When she tries to move, her joints protest their exhaustion. The blonde tries to remember the last time she caught a cold, but her mind is too foggy.

"I was thinking of trying it." Usagi turns and peers at Minako over the thick blankets tucked in all around her. The fellow blonde is sporting a mischievous grin. "After all, it was just like some scene out of a movie, right? The hero bursts in the door with the powerless heroine cradled in his arms." Minako trails off, sighing dreamily.

"Who?" Usagi rasps.

"New arrival," Minako says, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Tall guy with orange hair. He seems a bit angry. He was already arguing with the nurses, stormed out onto the patio, and then he came back in with you in tow."

She stops when the door to their room flies open and the male that could only be the one fitting Minako's description enters. "Hey are you some kind of idiot?" Usagi shakes her head, laughing softly while she glances at Rei. "Don't fall asleep in the rain anymore."

"Yes sir." She slurs mildly when she talks, but it doesn't inhibit her at all. "I'm Usagi the idiot."

"Ichigo," he responds with the slightest of smiles. Turning, he pauses briefly in the doorways and says, "See you around."

"Ah! He was so dreamy," Minako gushes, her eyes sparkling as she stares at the door. Rei rolls her eyes again, a gesture that doesn't escape Usagi, and she giggles quietly while Minako sighs languorously and ignores her.

"I don't see why you bother. You know patient romance is against the rules." The raven haired girl chides, flipping delicately through her newest magazine. Usagi briefly wonders where she keeps getting the new issues, or how she manages to look graceful and dramatic in every small thing she does, but doesn't ask as the other girl continues, "Besides, you shouldn't be after men that are in a crazy house in the first place."

"Now that's just insensitive," Minako huffs, crossing her arms daintily. Then, softer, she says, "Really, what normal person is going to date someone fresh from a mental hospital anyway?"

"Whatever. Does it even matter? Why do you even worry about dating?" Rei looks over from her magazine, her violet eyes dancing with reproach and anger. At Usagi's confused expression, Rei laughs cruelly and says, "Let me guess, she told you she's here because of her bulimia? They have special places for girls with eating disorders. You're here because you tried to kill yourself, just like all the other nutcases. Then you prance around with your little handbook pretending to be better than them."

"Rei, stop," Usagi shouts over Rei's still ranting tirade, finally bringing the violet eyed girl to her senses. She pulls the now sobbing Minako into a hug and sends a mixed expression at the other girl, who now looks guilty. "Shh Minako, it's okay. She didn't mean it."

"She's right." The other blonde whimpers, choking back slightly on her tears, "I lied to you. I've been in and out of clinics for eating disorders, but this is my first time in a mental institution."

"Minako, it doesn't matter." The pigtailed girl assures, pulling an arms link away and staring into Minako's pitiful face. "Are you forgetting I'm in the same fix? What right would I have to get indignant over the fact that you weren't completely honest?"

A small smile broke through Minako's tears, and she hugs Usagi again, muttering a thank you.

**xXx**

A week passes in which Usagi is confined to her room, and it turns into the best week ever considering her circumstances. She is exempt from group and individual therapy for the time, has her meals delivered to her, and gets regular visits from a few people, including Minako, Makoto, Ichigo, to her surprise, and Gaara who occasionally brings her favorite powdered donuts.

So regret plagues her when she is forced out of solitude once more, and she pokes at her breakfast halfheartedly while trying to forget the people who surround her on all sides.

"Hey," her azure eyes glance up to the tray dropped on the table across from her. Then she averts them further, to see who has joined her, and a small smile spreads over her gloomy expression.

"Hi Ichigo," she returns his greeting. Nothing else can be said before a nurse approaches her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Usagi nearly flinches.

"Tsukino? You have a visitor. Would you like to finish--?"

"I'm finished," Usagi stands and dumps her tray in the nearest garbage can. A distraction is welcome at the moment. She waves at Ichigo and follows the portly woman from the cafeteria. When she sees the person waiting for her, long, pale legs propped on the sea foam green table, her stomach lurches.

"Usagi, how's my favorite girl?" Flicking a lock of short violet hair from her eyes, she smiles lazily as the blonde walks slowly over, too nervous to sit at the table. Her dark eyes follow Usagi's every move, twinkling in amusement. "When I heard they locked you up, I was a little surprised."

"What do you want, Faye?" Her voice sounds pathetic to her ears. An unresolved emotion jumps through those dangerously green eyes. Rising to her feet, Faye smiles and takes both of the small blonde's hands in hers, kissing her on each cheek.

"Nothing at all. Get well soon, hmm?" In a flurry, Faye Valentine is gone. Usagi's fist tightens around the tiny object in her hand. Hot tears well and fall down her face as she starts to tremble. Before her knees collapse, she hears someone trying to catch her attention, asking what's wrong.

Turning, she pushes around them and runs back toward her room. When she crosses the threshold, her body collapses onto her bed and she cannot move, barely breathing. Still trembling, she holds her clenched fist against her heart, sobbing. That's how Rei finds her when she walks in.

"Usagi, what's wrong?" The blonde sits up when Rei sits across from her, violet eyes sweeping her form with worry. She can't stop herself from shaking as she extends her closed fist between them and slowly uncurls her fingers. Rei's violet eyes widen, but the shock dissipates quickly. She plucks the tiny baggy of white powder from Usagi's palm and throws it across the room before pulling her into a hug.

Usagi knows Rei isn't the type to comfort, so she accepts the rare occurrence gratefully. It takes an hour to get the hysterical girl back into her right mind, and when they do, they take the discarded baggy to the restroom, drop it in the toilet, and flush.

**xXx**

This last scene just sort of came to me. I like it though. I'm kind of tired here at 2:30 in the morning so expect some mistakes in it, okay?

New characters: Ichigo from Bleach, Faye Valentine from Cowboy BeBop. Faye is the first person that popped into my mind when I considered the role of Usagi's dealer. Haruka was the second. ;D I went with Faye, she seems devious enough to be a drug dealer.

Also, on another note, I didn't really elaborate on autophobia or the fact that Hotaru's using the plastic knife was meant to say that she ate with the knife. This is an achievement for her because she is always afraid of herself, that she will attack herself or those around her given any opportunity.

Review!

♥SachiNyoko♥


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